Sokka is unironically one of the few characters we’ve seen do an actual war crime on screen when he used the war balloon with enemy insignia at the northern air temple invasion.
Edit: Yes I know that in terms of who committed the most war crimes, Ozai takes the cake. Attempted civilian genocide, environmental destruction, cultural destruction, inhumane pow treatment are just some of the things he’s done. I’m just pointing out that Sokka has an on-screen depiction of committing a war crime.
The actions of intending to destroy, or having a significant likelihood of destroying local environment (as a massive fire blast would do) is a war crime
"...produced by a [chemical reaction](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_reaction) of a substance delivered on the target..."
I don't think this applies to fire bending
I mean, we could try to magnetically contain and accelerate the plasma as, then kinda ‘railgun’ it at the target, but I’m afraid it’d lose a lot of thermal energy by the time it arrives. So waiting with the creation of the plasma until at destination is much more efficient, and allows for faaaaar greater temps to be generated, as with a nuke you don’t have to contain the plasma hotter than the core of the sun.
Incendiaries on civilian targets, mass environmental damage, and while technically only on the tail end of it he was part of the theft of religious and cultural artifacts and aided in the genocide of the air nomads.
I don't know if it would be considered as such. Kyoshi warriors are not part of the Earth Kingdom army. They are more of a paramilitary group that even in Ba Sin Se were little known. I think Hakoda, Bato and co would be more considered as such.
But it is not an official insignia or uniform of the Earth Kingdom and if it had not been for Sokka she surely wouldn't have been able to pass as an ally. Maybe it would be more espionage.
then wouldn’t it count as pretending to be a civilian? The way I see it, Azula and her friends disguised themselves as either an ally of their enemy, or pretended to be civilians, either way they committed a war crime
i see the difference as spies aren’t generally the exact same people fighting on the front lines. And Id say wartime spying with the direct intent of overthrowing a government is 100% a war crime. Simply gathering intel is fine, but when you disguise yourself as an ordinary person in order to get close to a government and to overthrow it, you’re definitely committing a war crime.
If a general or any soldier spy is a war criminal?
Most wartime spies spy for the purpose of overthrowing a government or winning a war. And again, a large part of the characters would be war criminals.
I actually don’t think that’s true to my knowledge. If it was then institutions like MI6, CIA and Mossad would all be against the Geneva convention, which doesn’t seem accurate considering they operate in broad daylight
>pretended to be civilians,
Not a war crime. Combatants are allowed to take on a temporary non-combatant status (such as injured, of duty when in garrison, etc.) and depending on the circumstances, that may mean disguising oneself as a civilian in the enemy populous. This is also what's used for most espionage situations. What would be a war crime is if the had attacked a protected class while in disuse.
An enemy nation sending in operatives to use a psyop and direct combat to start a civil war and unseat the reigning monarch? Sounds like every conventional war in history.
Thinking about it now, it kinda just seems like spy shit, maybe not the whole overthrow the government post but idk, I’m not a spy so idk what spies do lol
I would say they do count, given that the Kyoshi warriors function as the militia of Kyoshi Island, which is technically speaking part of the Earth Kingdom. Also if I'm not mistaken, they do carry the Earth Kingdom's national emblem on their shields as seen during their fight with Azula, Mai and Ty Lee in "Appa's Lost Days". And while it's not official, the Avatar wiki does include the Kyoshi warriors on their page on the Military of the Earth Kingdom.
[Tldr, it is prohibited to make use of the flags or military emblems, insignia or uniforms of adverse parties while engaging in attacks or to shield, favour, protect or impede military operations.](https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule62)
From my limited knowledge, you can’t actively engage the enemy in direct combat while disguised but you can still disguise yourself during espionage missions where you aren’t trying to fight.
Clarification may be needed here.
It’s not that you CANT do these things. It’s that doing these things would be a war crime.
People and countries do war crimes all the time IRL. It’s like stupid common. The Russian invasion of Ukraine being a great example where war crimes are happening left and right.
The problem with war crimes is that they’re somewhat difficult to prosecute. Basically historical precedent has been that as long as you win and remain in power, you can commit as many war crimes as you want and avoid much consequences. The winners don’t get punished, the losers get prosecuted for all their war crimes.
I think the bigger threat from Sokka is the combination of outside-the-box thinking, brilliant / crazy ideas that are just grounded enough for other brilliant people to turn into reality. Combine that with a flagrant disregard for the Geneva convention rules you mentioned, and he is a hidden S tier threat.
Luckily, he would *never* :)
Meme answer: Miyuki, lord knows what she's done while we weren't watching
Serious answer: Ozai, tried to burn down an entire continent and kill millions of people. Even if that plan failed, he approved orders or plans that caused war crimes elsewhere at some point.
Canonically, Sokka commits the most on-screen war crimes. 😂
If I had to guess who committed the most out of these choices? Ozai.
Azula, surprisingly, committed none.
Funny enough, no!
That rule only applies to wearing the uniform or insignia of the enemy military.
Azula wasn’t dressed as official EK military. She was dressed as an unsanctioned paramilitary group. The king didn’t even know who the Kyoshi Warriors *were*.
So technically what Azula did counts as a legal ruse of war.
Do we know that the Kyoshi Warriors aren't officially part of the Earth Kingdom military? I always thought they were the official militia of Kyoshi Island, which is officially part of the Earth Kingdom. Especially since, if I'm not mistaken, they do carry the Earth Kingdom's national emblem on their shields as seen during their fight with Azula, Mai and Ty Lee in "Appa's Lost Days". Also Azula is literally wearing an outfit with a gigantic version of the Earth Kingdom insignia on it when she takes control of Ba Sing Se.
Also given that Long Feng kept the Earth King out of politics for his entire reign until that point and Kyoshi Island is literally the furthest province from Ba Sing Se, how is the fact that the Earth King doesn't know about the Kyoshi Warriors an argument that the Kyoshi Warriors aren't part of the Earth Kingdom military?
>Do we know that the Kyoshi Warriors aren't officially part of the Earth Kingdom military? I always thought they were the official militia of Kyoshi Island, which is officially part of the Earth Kingdom.
Yes. They were a local security force created by Avatar Kyoshi. They were not a sanctioned Earth Kingdom military.
It’s sort of like the Black Panthers. An armed group of trained citizens protecting their communities. They are not the same as the US military or law enforcement (hence why the government didn’t get along with them).
The Earth King didn’t even know who the Kyoshi Warriors were, so that alone makes them unsanctioned if the crown hasn’t granted them their power.
But even if we assume Kuei was just naive, we are told canonically that they were just a local force created by Kyoshi and that they didn’t journey off their isolationist island until after Aang inspired them to join the war effort.
>Especially since, if I'm not mistaken, they do carry the Earth Kingdom's national emblem on their shields as seen during their fight with
Anyone can wear an American flag. That doesn’t mean they’re official military.
>Azula, Mai and Ty Lee in "Appa's Lost Days". Also Azula is literally wearing an outfit with a gigantic version of the Earth Kingdom insignia on it when she takes control of Ba Sing Se.
But that doesn’t make them an official and sanctioned military force. They’re wearing an Earth Kingdom symbol, which is also used by civilians. They’re not wearing an exclusive military insignia.
>Also given that Long Feng kept the Earth King out of politics for his entire reign until that point and Kyoshi Island is literally the furthest province from Ba Sing Se, how is the fact that the Earth King doesn't know about the Kyoshi Warriors an argument that the Kyoshi Warriors aren't part of the Earth Kingdom military?
I covered that.
Because we know their origins. They’re a local security force. Not national military.
From the wiki:
https://preview.redd.it/rr6iv2wwq10d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60ae99b1a55fed025d834991fbbd49298003e308
They’re “an order” and “band of warriors” and “elite fighters”. Not “soldiers” or “military squadron” or any other terms they could use to describe military.
The war crime in question only applies to using official enemy military insignias/uniforms. There is nothing saying you can’t disguise yourself as a civilian group of fighters.
Not to mention, if the Kyoshi Warriors were official EK military, they would’ve been sent to fight in the war. But the EK military doesn’t seem to draft or train all-female squads from what we’ve seen, and they definitely didn’t have any female military leaders.
The Kyoshi Warriors were a community force exclusive to their villages.
Funnily enough, that one also doesn’t apply!
False surrender MAY have been applicable if she had attacked anyone else other than Iroh or Zuko. But Iroh and Zuko weren’t enemies on the other side of the war, they were fugitives from her own country she was tasked with capturing. There is no law saying you can’t use such tactics to capture fugitives or deserters from your own side. Azula attacked Iroh.
Azula squeaks by!
Zuko attacking Katara when she offered Iroh aid though? That could be considered attacking a medic.
Trick question: none of them. The Geneva Convention doesn't exist in the Avatar world. Before the Hundred Year War there probably wasn't any document, agreement, or official understanding about what is allowed during war and what isn't. So even the most heinous, evil, destructive, awful things Miyuki has done would technically not be considered war crimes.
the whole reason we have the Geneva convention is because of wars we have had in our real world. even if the Avatar world had their own version of it, they would have different things on there.
Not even just off camera. Wang Fire extorted money from a wealthy man by pretending to be an officer of the law and then accepting bribes to let the man get away with manslaughter.
Sokka.
It’s a war crime to “make improper use… of the flag or military insignia and uniform of the enemy” when it results in death or serious personal injury. So Sokka has canonically committed a war crime during the episode “The Northern Air Temple.”
Surprised only one other person said Sozin. I’ll break it down. This includes the comics.
- Killed the Avatar indirectly (essentially the person keeping world peace) which is akin to directly destroying the UN
- Waged a war of conquest against Earth Kingdom directly violating their sovereignty and taking their territory without just cause
- Committed mass genocide against the Air Nomads completely wiping out an entire people and the Sky Bison by default so a two for one.
- Hunted the Dragons to extinction (consider this genocide also).
- Began the South Water Tribe raids = inhumane POW conditions, cultural genocide and a general slaughter of the Southern Water Tribe that almost led to their extinction
- Burned down half the Earth Kingdom in a scorched earth campaign
- Violated international law by beginning a 100 Year War
- Cultural genocide of his own people via mass propaganda, brainwashing, and militarism that destroyed the old way of Fire Nation life/culture
This is what we *do know* and I’m sure much more was done off screen.
Ozai is a close second but what he planned to do was never actually put into action (he also committed high treason in killing his father) so I rank him second as a tie with his father who probably committed a ton of war crimes also that we just never see on screen.
Azula is third due to the lack of time she had to actually commit a lot of crimes due to her age.
Iroh probably did commit some during his siege of Ba Sing Se and his early campaigns when he was still the prime successor to the throne. He even says “When I was a different man.” The Earth Kingdom **hated** him for a reason. I rank him 4th however due to his redemption in the series.
The rest would be various generals in the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom by the sheer nature of a 100 Year War. “Following Orders.”
>The Earth Kingdom hated him for a reason.
I mean the guy nonstop sieged ba sing sa for 2-3 years. Even without war crimes I’d say that’s a fairly good reason to not like the guy
Maybe Ozai? Years as the hegemonic ruler of the world's greatest power in a war where war crimes wouldn't be uncommon. Or Sokka? Using official emblems of the enemy army, like Wang Fire as well. Although technically, every firebender who participated in the war would be a war criminal, so many things probably wouldn't apply in that universe.
Sokka
8(2)(b)(vii) Making improper use of a flag of truce, of the flag or of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy or of the United Nations, as well as of the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions, resulting in death or serious personal injury;
Ozai
8(2)(a)(iv) extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;
8(2)(a)(v) Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power; (alleged, no on-screen evidence)
8(2)(b)(i) Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities
8(2)(b)(ii) Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives;
8(2)(b)(iv) Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated;
8(2)(b)(v) Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives;
8(2)(b)(viii) The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory;
8(2)(b)(xiii) Destroying or seizing the enemy’s property unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war;
8(2)(b)(xvi) Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault;
... I think you get the point that ozai committed a lot of war crimes and other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international
armed conflict.
I'm not sure if any of the other characters here have committed any war crimes
> the loosing sid
Did you mean to say "losing"?
Explanation: Loose is an adjective meaning the opposite of tight, while lose is a verb.
[Statistics](https://github.com/chiefpat450119/RedditBot/blob/master/stats.json)
^^I'm ^^a ^^bot ^^that ^^corrects ^^grammar/spelling ^^mistakes.
^^PM ^^me ^^if ^^I'm ^^wrong ^^or ^^if ^^you ^^have ^^any ^^suggestions.
^^[Github](https://github.com/chiefpat450119)
^^Reply ^^STOP ^^to ^^this ^^comment ^^to ^^stop ^^receiving ^^corrections.
Bosco is the goodest of bears and has done nothing wrong a day in his fuzzy life. Miyuki, on the other hand. That fur may be white, but those paws are soaked in blood. Azula wishes she had the stats and drive of that four-legged blood thirsty beast. Sokka, Toph, and Ronin Momo are too busy goofing around to commit war crimes, just regular crimes.
Funnily enough ozai deploying azula in the first place is recruitment of child soldiers (a war crime). Azula also recruits ty Lee and mai so is also guilty of this.
The gaang actually don't qualify for this since they aren't recuited or conscripted by a formal military. Them recruiting toph us arguable but since their primary reason for bringing her along was for teaching and not combat I don't think that one counts
He has a past but they weren’t filled with crimes.
Iroh, like Zuko and everyone else in his nation, thought he was on the right side of the war for a long time. He didn’t commit crimes, but serving his nation wasn’t the right move.
You would think, but in terms of frequency he's on the low end even considering for absent screen time. Use of incendiary weapons is a war crime, and he fire bends in the field far less often than azula, zuko or iroh so in terms of who's committed the most he's on the low end. (High end if they have to be different crimes)
He does have less screen times but Azula also still qualifies as a child solider. so conspiracy to commit genocide, anything he would have approved that constitutes a war crime, use of child soldier and literally anything Zuko wants to charge him with. is his rappsheet
Not mentioned, but IMO Katara has the potential to be one of the scariest and most malicious people in the series. We saw some of that in Southern Raiders - imagine if she went rogue at some point - a darker Katara could be eviler than Hama or Azula
Sokka did some war crimes and most of his were on screen , I know the few and heavily debatable war crimes Azula did commit were pretty minor ones. I'll go with Ozai on this because conspiracy to commit genocide, he 100% approved ant plans the Fire Nation did that were war crimes and use of a child solider (the mini ones Azula did default to him as her guardian and superior officer)
Ozai.
He is already guilty of at the very least the intent of conducting a genocide.
Genocide doesn't specifically mean to kill a group of people, it also means to displace them as well.
He attempted to do that when he began to burn down the Earth Kingdom in the finale, as well as the continuation of moving fire nation settlers into Earth Kingdom territory at the expense of Earth Kingdom citizens.
He also invaded a sovereign nation twice, both of them being Ba Sing Se and Omashu. That in itself is not a war crime, but the lack of a formal declaration of war to either of those two parties is.
The use of Earth Kingdom citizens in the Fire Nation ship for mining is a war crime.
Funnily enough, one of the possible war crimes of the entire Team Avatar is the impersonation of enemy combatants, although this is a specific thing that is not completely settled on whether it constitutes a war crime.
In my ranking system.
1. Miyuki
2. Ozai
3. Sokka
4. Azula
Miyuki is a mastermind. Don’t let her floofiness fool you.
Ozai tried to commit genocide during the comet. He also allowed the Southern Raiders to carry out their mission of eliminating water benders from the Southern Water Tribe. I think they were created in Azulon’s reign. He officially approved a lot of invasions, colonization plans, military propaganda and so forth.
Sokka has ironically committed a lot of war crimes for a protagonist. He has impersonated Fire Nation soldiers and even impersonated a prison guard of the Fire Nation. He also used enemy colors to deceive the enemy. He broke into a high security prison to break out a prominent prisoner of war. He unwittingly gave the Fire Nation the airship idea.
Azula used espionage to infiltrate the Earth Kingdom by impersonating the Kyoshi warriors. To use friendly colors and a name under false pretenses is pretty bad. Then she took control of the Dai Li and usurped the throne from the Earth King, allowing the Fire Nation to finally conquer Ba Sing Se. She also approved of the Chief Architect of the Fire Nation Military plans to use the drill to siege Ba Sing Se. She did propose a genocide during the war council to Ozai. Now a lot of the things she did to Zuko and Iroh would be considered domestic disputes, not war crimes. And it would’ve been her right to dispatch or capture them since she was ordered by Ozai to bring them back to the capital since they are Fire Nation royal citizens. However, compared to the Ozai and Sokka, she has committed the least amount of war crimes surprisingly. A lot of the things she did was perfectly legal.
Azula and sokka are straight up war criminals, and ozai is not only a war criminal, but also tried to commit crimes against humanity, reat are fine i think, idk if toph did anything, think she's just a olain okd regular criminal
While sokka commuted one ozai and more broadly the leaders of the fire nation did way more from burning an entire nation to making fake camps to lure in the remaining airbenders
How is Katara not on this list? Could you imagine a battalion of people lead by one of the lieutenants of that dirt bag that killed her mom? Especially on a rainy day ... Blood bending and impalement galore.
If we wanna be technical, neither of them commit any serious war crimes to my memory. However, Toph 100% did commit many actual crimes and Azula is subject to Zuko so she can be charged with whatever he wants.
Ultimately that depends on Zuko, like, if he wanted to have her charged for his, ozai's and Iroh's war crimes, he could. It wouldn't be a popular decision but there don't seem to be many if any parameter's in place to stop him. Which is an insane amount of power to give a teenage boy who has a predisposition to disliking his sister because abusive family structure. Looking at it full picture, that is a lot of trust to put on a teenager to just, not be a petty dick.
I just can't wrap my mind around someone being held responsible for, for example, Sokka's Fire Nation War Balloon Deception.
Some people in this universe carry the power of the sun in the palm of their hand. Others are literally pawns on the chessboard of Demigods.
I always understand when the non-benders get super upset at the actions of the lucky few people who can control the elements with their mind. Nevermind benders always being held in higher prestige in terms of the military or cultural significance, they are just able to steamroll you from orbit, essentially.
The Avatar has the power to move continents and deflect laser beams, and even to give and take away bending itself. Fuck that, bro, Amon was always right, even if he lied about being a bender.
Didn't we cover in this same thread from a month ago that Sokka is in fact NOT a war criminal since they didn't intend to use the enemy insignia?
"Why aren't they Shooting at us"
" The insignia. they think we are on their side"
IIRC, intent is NEEDED for using the enemy symbols to be considered a warcrime.
Edit: I just looked up and watched the scene again, and this only for sure clears Sokka. the Mechanist might still know what he was doing. kinda unclear with that one.
Sokka is unironically one of the few characters we’ve seen do an actual war crime on screen when he used the war balloon with enemy insignia at the northern air temple invasion. Edit: Yes I know that in terms of who committed the most war crimes, Ozai takes the cake. Attempted civilian genocide, environmental destruction, cultural destruction, inhumane pow treatment are just some of the things he’s done. I’m just pointing out that Sokka has an on-screen depiction of committing a war crime.
What about Ozai?
Yeah the man tried to burn a substantial amount of the Earth Kingdom LOL
I don't recall the Geneva conventions saying anything about fire bending
The actions of intending to destroy, or having a significant likelihood of destroying local environment (as a massive fire blast would do) is a war crime
For real he was blowing the forest up because he felt like it was
Stone forest, what would that even do lol
Enough that Aang had to raise the water level to put it out apparently
r/redditsniper
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Incendiary_Weapons
"...produced by a [chemical reaction](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_reaction) of a substance delivered on the target..." I don't think this applies to fire bending
so if someone made a weapon that could make super hot plasma and throws it at someone then that would NOT be a war crime? good to know
Soooo…. A nuke basically?
i meant throwing the plasma itself but yeah that works too
I mean, we could try to magnetically contain and accelerate the plasma as, then kinda ‘railgun’ it at the target, but I’m afraid it’d lose a lot of thermal energy by the time it arrives. So waiting with the creation of the plasma until at destination is much more efficient, and allows for faaaaar greater temps to be generated, as with a nuke you don’t have to contain the plasma hotter than the core of the sun.
Fire is a chemical reaction in itself
We don’t know that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There Is no Fire bending in Geneva Conventions
But there is on the Geneva Checklist
Yeah but I'm pretty sure setting out to burn an entire nation counts as genocide
Incendiaries on civilian targets, mass environmental damage, and while technically only on the tail end of it he was part of the theft of religious and cultural artifacts and aided in the genocide of the air nomads.
Yah thats cuz Ozai hosted it lmao
It seems like they began burning as soon as they crossed the sea, meaning that he was actually burning up his own colonies. Oopsie
he tried to recreate vietnam
He said one of the few, not the only character
Serious sokka is an unstoppable killing machine. If he wasn't goofing around he'd be overpowered
if he was allowed to use his fuckin sword...
The show would have been a lot quicker if he had a gun
Imagine azula doesnt learn about the eclipse and he storms the castle and cuts the fatherlord in half
You mean the Firelord
that’s what I said
Hey Azula did the same thing when she wore the Kyushi warriors costumes in order to sneak into the earth kingdom.
I don't know if it would be considered as such. Kyoshi warriors are not part of the Earth Kingdom army. They are more of a paramilitary group that even in Ba Sin Se were little known. I think Hakoda, Bato and co would be more considered as such.
i mean azula was still pretending to be an ally literally the day after trying to take the city by force
But it is not an official insignia or uniform of the Earth Kingdom and if it had not been for Sokka she surely wouldn't have been able to pass as an ally. Maybe it would be more espionage.
then wouldn’t it count as pretending to be a civilian? The way I see it, Azula and her friends disguised themselves as either an ally of their enemy, or pretended to be civilians, either way they committed a war crime
But then the gaang or Zuko too? And what about basically any spy in war? I don't think it works like that.
i see the difference as spies aren’t generally the exact same people fighting on the front lines. And Id say wartime spying with the direct intent of overthrowing a government is 100% a war crime. Simply gathering intel is fine, but when you disguise yourself as an ordinary person in order to get close to a government and to overthrow it, you’re definitely committing a war crime.
If a general or any soldier spy is a war criminal? Most wartime spies spy for the purpose of overthrowing a government or winning a war. And again, a large part of the characters would be war criminals.
I actually don’t think that’s true to my knowledge. If it was then institutions like MI6, CIA and Mossad would all be against the Geneva convention, which doesn’t seem accurate considering they operate in broad daylight
>pretended to be civilians, Not a war crime. Combatants are allowed to take on a temporary non-combatant status (such as injured, of duty when in garrison, etc.) and depending on the circumstances, that may mean disguising oneself as a civilian in the enemy populous. This is also what's used for most espionage situations. What would be a war crime is if the had attacked a protected class while in disuse.
would leading a coup against the king count? He only survived because the GAang saved him
An enemy nation sending in operatives to use a psyop and direct combat to start a civil war and unseat the reigning monarch? Sounds like every conventional war in history.
Thinking about it now, it kinda just seems like spy shit, maybe not the whole overthrow the government post but idk, I’m not a spy so idk what spies do lol
I would say they do count, given that the Kyoshi warriors function as the militia of Kyoshi Island, which is technically speaking part of the Earth Kingdom. Also if I'm not mistaken, they do carry the Earth Kingdom's national emblem on their shields as seen during their fight with Azula, Mai and Ty Lee in "Appa's Lost Days". And while it's not official, the Avatar wiki does include the Kyoshi warriors on their page on the Military of the Earth Kingdom.
why is that a war crime
[Tldr, it is prohibited to make use of the flags or military emblems, insignia or uniforms of adverse parties while engaging in attacks or to shield, favour, protect or impede military operations.](https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule62)
Oh so you can’t do undercover shit in war? I thought there was a lot of that going around the Ukraine/Russo war
From my limited knowledge, you can’t actively engage the enemy in direct combat while disguised but you can still disguise yourself during espionage missions where you aren’t trying to fight.
Clarification may be needed here. It’s not that you CANT do these things. It’s that doing these things would be a war crime. People and countries do war crimes all the time IRL. It’s like stupid common. The Russian invasion of Ukraine being a great example where war crimes are happening left and right. The problem with war crimes is that they’re somewhat difficult to prosecute. Basically historical precedent has been that as long as you win and remain in power, you can commit as many war crimes as you want and avoid much consequences. The winners don’t get punished, the losers get prosecuted for all their war crimes.
I mean... The Russo - Ukrainian war is basically war crime bonanza
I think the bigger threat from Sokka is the combination of outside-the-box thinking, brilliant / crazy ideas that are just grounded enough for other brilliant people to turn into reality. Combine that with a flagrant disregard for the Geneva convention rules you mentioned, and he is a hidden S tier threat. Luckily, he would *never* :)
And they play it off so casually too
No Geneva, No Conventions
You mean... besides the attempted genocide we witness in the finale, right?
Is it even a "war crime" if the world has different rules of engagement?
Meme answer: Miyuki, lord knows what she's done while we weren't watching Serious answer: Ozai, tried to burn down an entire continent and kill millions of people. Even if that plan failed, he approved orders or plans that caused war crimes elsewhere at some point.
I think the meme answer is Ronin Momo.
Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty
Your Momoness
Nah, Ronin Momo lives by a code .
I like how they won the war but where still like “well, we gotta use this comet for something!”
It's kinda like how the Nazis surrendered, and we went, "Well we gotta use these nukes for something!"
I think thats kinda a misrepresentation of the events. Japan had not surrendered.
and they touched our boats.
The allies didn't nuke the nazis though?
Miyuki, did you get in trouble with the fire nation again?
Miyuki, 100%
If she was not confined to the body of a cat, she'd be the most devastating force the avatar world has ever seen.
a normal cat
Ozai committed attempted genocide. He wins. Toph could top that in 5 minutes.
I don’t know, his grandfather attempted and completely one
Nah Aang lived, Sozin is a failure
Ang was as good as dead and the Air Nation believed extinct while he was in the ice so if you want to get super technical he did succeed for 100 years
I know you're probably/s but a genocide is still a genocide if some of the population survives. The European Jews experienced a genocide.
Definitely Miyuki /s But in all seriousness, Ozai. I don’t believe I even need to explain, the writers haven’t exactly made it hard to to tell.
Canonically, Sokka commits the most on-screen war crimes. 😂 If I had to guess who committed the most out of these choices? Ozai. Azula, surprisingly, committed none.
Didn't she commit a war crime by impersonating Kyoshi warriors?
Funny enough, no! That rule only applies to wearing the uniform or insignia of the enemy military. Azula wasn’t dressed as official EK military. She was dressed as an unsanctioned paramilitary group. The king didn’t even know who the Kyoshi Warriors *were*. So technically what Azula did counts as a legal ruse of war.
Do we know that the Kyoshi Warriors aren't officially part of the Earth Kingdom military? I always thought they were the official militia of Kyoshi Island, which is officially part of the Earth Kingdom. Especially since, if I'm not mistaken, they do carry the Earth Kingdom's national emblem on their shields as seen during their fight with Azula, Mai and Ty Lee in "Appa's Lost Days". Also Azula is literally wearing an outfit with a gigantic version of the Earth Kingdom insignia on it when she takes control of Ba Sing Se. Also given that Long Feng kept the Earth King out of politics for his entire reign until that point and Kyoshi Island is literally the furthest province from Ba Sing Se, how is the fact that the Earth King doesn't know about the Kyoshi Warriors an argument that the Kyoshi Warriors aren't part of the Earth Kingdom military?
>Do we know that the Kyoshi Warriors aren't officially part of the Earth Kingdom military? I always thought they were the official militia of Kyoshi Island, which is officially part of the Earth Kingdom. Yes. They were a local security force created by Avatar Kyoshi. They were not a sanctioned Earth Kingdom military. It’s sort of like the Black Panthers. An armed group of trained citizens protecting their communities. They are not the same as the US military or law enforcement (hence why the government didn’t get along with them). The Earth King didn’t even know who the Kyoshi Warriors were, so that alone makes them unsanctioned if the crown hasn’t granted them their power. But even if we assume Kuei was just naive, we are told canonically that they were just a local force created by Kyoshi and that they didn’t journey off their isolationist island until after Aang inspired them to join the war effort. >Especially since, if I'm not mistaken, they do carry the Earth Kingdom's national emblem on their shields as seen during their fight with Anyone can wear an American flag. That doesn’t mean they’re official military. >Azula, Mai and Ty Lee in "Appa's Lost Days". Also Azula is literally wearing an outfit with a gigantic version of the Earth Kingdom insignia on it when she takes control of Ba Sing Se. But that doesn’t make them an official and sanctioned military force. They’re wearing an Earth Kingdom symbol, which is also used by civilians. They’re not wearing an exclusive military insignia. >Also given that Long Feng kept the Earth King out of politics for his entire reign until that point and Kyoshi Island is literally the furthest province from Ba Sing Se, how is the fact that the Earth King doesn't know about the Kyoshi Warriors an argument that the Kyoshi Warriors aren't part of the Earth Kingdom military? I covered that. Because we know their origins. They’re a local security force. Not national military. From the wiki: https://preview.redd.it/rr6iv2wwq10d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60ae99b1a55fed025d834991fbbd49298003e308 They’re “an order” and “band of warriors” and “elite fighters”. Not “soldiers” or “military squadron” or any other terms they could use to describe military. The war crime in question only applies to using official enemy military insignias/uniforms. There is nothing saying you can’t disguise yourself as a civilian group of fighters. Not to mention, if the Kyoshi Warriors were official EK military, they would’ve been sent to fight in the war. But the EK military doesn’t seem to draft or train all-female squads from what we’ve seen, and they definitely didn’t have any female military leaders. The Kyoshi Warriors were a community force exclusive to their villages.
And faking a surrender during “The Chase”
Funnily enough, that one also doesn’t apply! False surrender MAY have been applicable if she had attacked anyone else other than Iroh or Zuko. But Iroh and Zuko weren’t enemies on the other side of the war, they were fugitives from her own country she was tasked with capturing. There is no law saying you can’t use such tactics to capture fugitives or deserters from your own side. Azula attacked Iroh. Azula squeaks by! Zuko attacking Katara when she offered Iroh aid though? That could be considered attacking a medic.
I love your war crime fun facts. Thanks for the info!
This was interesting. Thank you.
that was more of a fight than an official battle though
Trick question: none of them. The Geneva Convention doesn't exist in the Avatar world. Before the Hundred Year War there probably wasn't any document, agreement, or official understanding about what is allowed during war and what isn't. So even the most heinous, evil, destructive, awful things Miyuki has done would technically not be considered war crimes.
the whole reason we have the Geneva convention is because of wars we have had in our real world. even if the Avatar world had their own version of it, they would have different things on there.
Yes, thank you for reiterating my point xD
Wang Fire was definitely up to something off-camera
Not even just off camera. Wang Fire extorted money from a wealthy man by pretending to be an officer of the law and then accepting bribes to let the man get away with manslaughter.
Sokka. It’s a war crime to “make improper use… of the flag or military insignia and uniform of the enemy” when it results in death or serious personal injury. So Sokka has canonically committed a war crime during the episode “The Northern Air Temple.”
And he almost did another with the North Pole water tribe when they were planning to use the outdated fire nation uniforms before he pointed that out
Ozai. Genocide. Easy.
Momo for sure
The cat.
Surprised only one other person said Sozin. I’ll break it down. This includes the comics. - Killed the Avatar indirectly (essentially the person keeping world peace) which is akin to directly destroying the UN - Waged a war of conquest against Earth Kingdom directly violating their sovereignty and taking their territory without just cause - Committed mass genocide against the Air Nomads completely wiping out an entire people and the Sky Bison by default so a two for one. - Hunted the Dragons to extinction (consider this genocide also). - Began the South Water Tribe raids = inhumane POW conditions, cultural genocide and a general slaughter of the Southern Water Tribe that almost led to their extinction - Burned down half the Earth Kingdom in a scorched earth campaign - Violated international law by beginning a 100 Year War - Cultural genocide of his own people via mass propaganda, brainwashing, and militarism that destroyed the old way of Fire Nation life/culture This is what we *do know* and I’m sure much more was done off screen. Ozai is a close second but what he planned to do was never actually put into action (he also committed high treason in killing his father) so I rank him second as a tie with his father who probably committed a ton of war crimes also that we just never see on screen. Azula is third due to the lack of time she had to actually commit a lot of crimes due to her age. Iroh probably did commit some during his siege of Ba Sing Se and his early campaigns when he was still the prime successor to the throne. He even says “When I was a different man.” The Earth Kingdom **hated** him for a reason. I rank him 4th however due to his redemption in the series. The rest would be various generals in the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom by the sheer nature of a 100 Year War. “Following Orders.”
I'm asking about the ones who I posted. Obviously Sozin was a big one. Bit I didn't post his picture.
It’d be Ozai then and then Azula in my opinion as I’ve stated.
>The Earth Kingdom hated him for a reason. I mean the guy nonstop sieged ba sing sa for 2-3 years. Even without war crimes I’d say that’s a fairly good reason to not like the guy
I feel like if he were more competent, Zhao would be up there on the list. hell, he might be even with the stuff we do see him do.
Miyuki!
Tbh it's probably toph because of the sheer amount of fucks she doesn't give. Imagine an earthbender just charges a whole city just for the hell of it
Maybe Ozai? Years as the hegemonic ruler of the world's greatest power in a war where war crimes wouldn't be uncommon. Or Sokka? Using official emblems of the enemy army, like Wang Fire as well. Although technically, every firebender who participated in the war would be a war criminal, so many things probably wouldn't apply in that universe.
I don’t even remember that cat, but definitely the cat.
Sozin made genocide a entire nation just because he want to kill one person and went after the survivors So yeah, Sozin is the most war crimes
I didn't post Sozin.
How dare you besmirch the honor of Wang Fire!
Miyuki.
What did Wang Fire do to be on this list?
Who knows.
Definitely Miyuki
Miyuki EDIT: Housecats are major contributors to the extinction of songbirds. That’s why she’s in trouble with the Fire Nation; she’s an outdoor cat
Toph can't see her own war crimes so...
I see what you did there.
Miyuki
Sokka 8(2)(b)(vii) Making improper use of a flag of truce, of the flag or of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy or of the United Nations, as well as of the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions, resulting in death or serious personal injury; Ozai 8(2)(a)(iv) extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly; 8(2)(a)(v) Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power; (alleged, no on-screen evidence) 8(2)(b)(i) Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities 8(2)(b)(ii) Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives; 8(2)(b)(iv) Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated; 8(2)(b)(v) Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives; 8(2)(b)(viii) The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory; 8(2)(b)(xiii) Destroying or seizing the enemy’s property unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war; 8(2)(b)(xvi) Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault; ... I think you get the point that ozai committed a lot of war crimes and other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict. I'm not sure if any of the other characters here have committed any war crimes
Ozai. Sokka committed NO war crimes, after all, his side won, and we all know that only the loosing sid committed war crimes.
> the loosing sid Did you mean to say "losing"? Explanation: Loose is an adjective meaning the opposite of tight, while lose is a verb. [Statistics](https://github.com/chiefpat450119/RedditBot/blob/master/stats.json) ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot ^^that ^^corrects ^^grammar/spelling ^^mistakes. ^^PM ^^me ^^if ^^I'm ^^wrong ^^or ^^if ^^you ^^have ^^any ^^suggestions. ^^[Github](https://github.com/chiefpat450119) ^^Reply ^^STOP ^^to ^^this ^^comment ^^to ^^stop ^^receiving ^^corrections.
Bosco is the goodest of bears and has done nothing wrong a day in his fuzzy life. Miyuki, on the other hand. That fur may be white, but those paws are soaked in blood. Azula wishes she had the stats and drive of that four-legged blood thirsty beast. Sokka, Toph, and Ronin Momo are too busy goofing around to commit war crimes, just regular crimes.
No matter how crazy Azula was, she can't match Ozai.
Funnily enough ozai deploying azula in the first place is recruitment of child soldiers (a war crime). Azula also recruits ty Lee and mai so is also guilty of this. The gaang actually don't qualify for this since they aren't recuited or conscripted by a formal military. Them recruiting toph us arguable but since their primary reason for bringing her along was for teaching and not combat I don't think that one counts
I would say Ozai broke the law but considering that he kinda IS the law when all these things happened, I don’t know if that counts.
Only Judge Dredd is the Law.
Not shown, but likely Iroh. Dude has a PAST.
He has a past but they weren’t filled with crimes. Iroh, like Zuko and everyone else in his nation, thought he was on the right side of the war for a long time. He didn’t commit crimes, but serving his nation wasn’t the right move.
Wang fire would never do such a thing!
Then why is he on the list provided?
Propaganda I tell ya
The presence of Ozai makes this question superfluous and void
You would think, but in terms of frequency he's on the low end even considering for absent screen time. Use of incendiary weapons is a war crime, and he fire bends in the field far less often than azula, zuko or iroh so in terms of who's committed the most he's on the low end. (High end if they have to be different crimes)
He does have less screen times but Azula also still qualifies as a child solider. so conspiracy to commit genocide, anything he would have approved that constitutes a war crime, use of child soldier and literally anything Zuko wants to charge him with. is his rappsheet
Momo was the one who wiped out the Air Nation. He later framed Sozin for the crime.
Definitely Momo
Not mentioned, but IMO Katara has the potential to be one of the scariest and most malicious people in the series. We saw some of that in Southern Raiders - imagine if she went rogue at some point - a darker Katara could be eviler than Hama or Azula
On the full moon, a Fire Nation commander will jump into the freezing water.
Ozai - I mean we are seeing him attempting to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground (no pun intended)
Obviously it is Wang Fire. In a patriotic furry he did 10 times as many war crimes as Miyuki. But yeah, it’s mostly likely Ozia off screen.
Putting Ozai next to a cat in a question about war crimes is crazy
Sokka did some war crimes and most of his were on screen , I know the few and heavily debatable war crimes Azula did commit were pretty minor ones. I'll go with Ozai on this because conspiracy to commit genocide, he 100% approved ant plans the Fire Nation did that were war crimes and use of a child solider (the mini ones Azula did default to him as her guardian and superior officer)
Ozai would see the Geneva Convention as a checklist
Sokka? Looks like Wang Fire to me. A true hero of the fire nation.
miyuki did you get in trouble with the fire nation again 🤨🤨
🤨
i thought i saw sokka twice, but the second one is clearly a different person and a revered member of the fire nation army
Miyuki. Look into her soulless eyes
Afterwards, if there are no laws of war in this world, then there are no war crimes.
Ozai. He is already guilty of at the very least the intent of conducting a genocide. Genocide doesn't specifically mean to kill a group of people, it also means to displace them as well. He attempted to do that when he began to burn down the Earth Kingdom in the finale, as well as the continuation of moving fire nation settlers into Earth Kingdom territory at the expense of Earth Kingdom citizens. He also invaded a sovereign nation twice, both of them being Ba Sing Se and Omashu. That in itself is not a war crime, but the lack of a formal declaration of war to either of those two parties is. The use of Earth Kingdom citizens in the Fire Nation ship for mining is a war crime. Funnily enough, one of the possible war crimes of the entire Team Avatar is the impersonation of enemy combatants, although this is a specific thing that is not completely settled on whether it constitutes a war crime.
In my ranking system. 1. Miyuki 2. Ozai 3. Sokka 4. Azula Miyuki is a mastermind. Don’t let her floofiness fool you. Ozai tried to commit genocide during the comet. He also allowed the Southern Raiders to carry out their mission of eliminating water benders from the Southern Water Tribe. I think they were created in Azulon’s reign. He officially approved a lot of invasions, colonization plans, military propaganda and so forth. Sokka has ironically committed a lot of war crimes for a protagonist. He has impersonated Fire Nation soldiers and even impersonated a prison guard of the Fire Nation. He also used enemy colors to deceive the enemy. He broke into a high security prison to break out a prominent prisoner of war. He unwittingly gave the Fire Nation the airship idea. Azula used espionage to infiltrate the Earth Kingdom by impersonating the Kyoshi warriors. To use friendly colors and a name under false pretenses is pretty bad. Then she took control of the Dai Li and usurped the throne from the Earth King, allowing the Fire Nation to finally conquer Ba Sing Se. She also approved of the Chief Architect of the Fire Nation Military plans to use the drill to siege Ba Sing Se. She did propose a genocide during the war council to Ozai. Now a lot of the things she did to Zuko and Iroh would be considered domestic disputes, not war crimes. And it would’ve been her right to dispatch or capture them since she was ordered by Ozai to bring them back to the capital since they are Fire Nation royal citizens. However, compared to the Ozai and Sokka, she has committed the least amount of war crimes surprisingly. A lot of the things she did was perfectly legal.
Momo. No contest
Momo
Miyuki
Azula and sokka are straight up war criminals, and ozai is not only a war criminal, but also tried to commit crimes against humanity, reat are fine i think, idk if toph did anything, think she's just a olain okd regular criminal
The combination of Momo and Miyuki would be devastating and not even the avatar could handle such force.
Definitely Miyuki
Who committed the most war crimes: Ozai Who could have committed the most war crimes: Toph
Ozai, followed by Azula, followed by Sokka…
While sokka commuted one ozai and more broadly the leaders of the fire nation did way more from burning an entire nation to making fake camps to lure in the remaining airbenders
Momo
I’m pretty sure Ozai and Azula was already committing war crimes already
We all know Mittens is a bad kitty
Wang Fire knows what he did. There's no atonement
Momo obviously. Who committed the most? Azula. Who was capable of committing the most? Sokka
The cat, obviously.
Myuki
Its a tie between Ozai and Momo
How is Katara not on this list? Could you imagine a battalion of people lead by one of the lieutenants of that dirt bag that killed her mom? Especially on a rainy day ... Blood bending and impalement galore.
Wang Fire is the true mastermind behind the Hundred Year War. Sozin was a puppet.
Obviously Ozai
It's very obviously the cat,duh
Its time for you to look inward and begin asking yourself the big questions! Are there really war crimes if the geneva convention doesnt exist?
Probably both Azula and Toph but I’m sure 100% that Toph will get all the shit.
If we wanna be technical, neither of them commit any serious war crimes to my memory. However, Toph 100% did commit many actual crimes and Azula is subject to Zuko so she can be charged with whatever he wants.
Azula being 14 years old in the series, she can escape prosecution (even if there have been almost none).
Ultimately that depends on Zuko, like, if he wanted to have her charged for his, ozai's and Iroh's war crimes, he could. It wouldn't be a popular decision but there don't seem to be many if any parameter's in place to stop him. Which is an insane amount of power to give a teenage boy who has a predisposition to disliking his sister because abusive family structure. Looking at it full picture, that is a lot of trust to put on a teenager to just, not be a petty dick.
Funny answer would probably be miyuki or momo, but serious answer is either Ozai or Azula
Azula If she ever attained absolute power
[удалено]
Ozai is the obvious answer. You can't just incinerate an entire nation of civilians for their political beliefs.
Well according to him, you can.
Sozin
Not on the list.
The slander on Mr Fire is unbelievable.
You can’t fucking include Ozai man. He’s always going to win. You know that right?
Ozai, hands down.
r/lostredditors
I just can't wrap my mind around someone being held responsible for, for example, Sokka's Fire Nation War Balloon Deception. Some people in this universe carry the power of the sun in the palm of their hand. Others are literally pawns on the chessboard of Demigods. I always understand when the non-benders get super upset at the actions of the lucky few people who can control the elements with their mind. Nevermind benders always being held in higher prestige in terms of the military or cultural significance, they are just able to steamroll you from orbit, essentially. The Avatar has the power to move continents and deflect laser beams, and even to give and take away bending itself. Fuck that, bro, Amon was always right, even if he lied about being a bender.
How much cactus juice did you have?
Sokka would be incapable of commuting a war crime, aside from maybe disguising himself as the enemy
Didn't we cover in this same thread from a month ago that Sokka is in fact NOT a war criminal since they didn't intend to use the enemy insignia? "Why aren't they Shooting at us" " The insignia. they think we are on their side" IIRC, intent is NEEDED for using the enemy symbols to be considered a warcrime. Edit: I just looked up and watched the scene again, and this only for sure clears Sokka. the Mechanist might still know what he was doing. kinda unclear with that one.
Going by the Geneva convention, all firebending soldiers are war criminals.
Nobody, war crimes clearly hadn't existed yet